(By Ellen Cantarow) For the past several years, I’ve been writing about what happens when big oil and gas corporations drill where people live. “Fracking” -- high-volume hydraulic fracturing, which extracts oil…

(By Christopher Dekki) Since the beginning of this terrible conflict in Syria, I have been closely listening to people’s reactions to the violence and devastation occurring there. What is astonishing is how…

(By Juan Cole) President Obama's State of the Union address addressed some key foreign policy issues--Afghanistan and Iran above all-- though it was primarily aimed at domestic issues, and mainly at those…

(By Andrea Germanos) As part of their arsenal of spying tools, the National Security Agency and its British counterpart, the GCHQ, are sucking up personal data leaked from smartphone apps, according to…

(by Juan Cole) January 25 marked the third anniversary of the revolution that overthrew dictator Hosni Mubarak, and Egyptians observed it in three distinctively different ways. In the iconic Tahrir Square downtown,…

(By César Chelala) Increasing acts of violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories have been repeatedly denounced. Together with the increasing number of settlements being built on Palestinian land,…

A senior European official on Wednesday painted an alarming picture for Israel if Mideast peace efforts fail, saying the country could face deepening economic isolation if it presses forward with construction of…

(By Molly Crabapple) COFFEE WITH REFUGEES (via techexile.com) “In Lebanon’s Mountains, Syrians Face a Grim Future The teacher never imagined he would live in a tent. He once taught high school philosophy…

(By AFP) Israel policy splits Palestinian families (via AFP) Israel's restrictions on Palestinian movement between Gaza and the West Bank is separating relatives and making family life impossible for tens of thousands…

(By Andrea Germanos) The global elite have rigged the rules so that "economic growth looks more like a winner-take-all system" that undermines democracy and threatens future generations with a "cascade of privilege…

(By Juan Cole) A new report by three respected jurists argues that photographic evidence provided by a defector from the Syrian police proves systematic torture and summary execution of thousands of prisoners…

(By Alfred McCoy) For more than six months, Edward Snowden’s revelations about the National Security Agency (NSA) have been pouring out from the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Guardian, Germany’s…

(By Kara Brandeisky) President Obama on Friday announced some reportedly limited reforms to National Security Agency surveillance programs.Since the first disclosures based on documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, Obama…

(By Rania Abouzeid) It was bound to happen, this uprising within an uprising against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a transnational ultraconservative Islamist group that ostensibly fights alongside Syria’s…

The Republican Party is increasingly emerging as an anti-science party. Since American greatness was built on its science and technology (and not on the odd cult of biblical inerrancy), this development is…

(By Juan Cole) Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, told investors at a conference on Wednesday that they should move pension funds out of fossil fuels.…

Stephen Colbert reports on Robert Gates's criticisms of President Obama, noting that Gates said he though Obama made the right decisions, but was beset by second thoughts. He contrasted him to President…

(By Juan Cole) A Washington D.C. federal panel has struck down the Federal Communication Commission position on net neutrality, threatening the corporatization of the internet. The reason readers of Informed Comment can…

Sharif Abdel Kouddous: In a strong show of solidarity, nearly 40 correspondents and editors representing 29 international media organizations are calling for the immediate release of journalists detained in Egypt. On December…

(By AFP) Giant Antarctic glacier beyond point of no return (via AFP) Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier, one of the biggest single contributors to world sea-level rise, is melting irreversibly and could add…

(By Farhang Jahanpour) Despite strong opposition by the White House and the States Department and despite the pleadings of some of the most prominent bipartisan US foreign policy luminaries who have warned…

(By Imad Mesdoua) "Ansar Al-Sharia cleans the streets of Benghazi and conducts social work to further enhance its standing" Terrorism Security in Libya still remains an ephemeral prospect. The country is awash…

(By Juan Cole) The propaganda wars in Washington continue over Edward Snowden's revelation that the National Security Agency and other Federal government departments have in the past decade quietly abolished the Fourth…

(By Mohammed Fadel) In response to a December 24 bombing in the town of Mansoura, the Egyptian government declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. The decision, which came despite the fact…

(By Juan Cole) Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is adding a fifth demand to his negotiations with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas: That the Palestinians recognize…

Benjamin Netanyahu's hardline coalition partners step up pressure on the Israeli prime minister, threatening to topple the government if he caves in to American pressure to accept a key Palestinian territorial demand…

(By Michael Munk) Counting the casualties of war is a highly political exercise. We recall the competition for promotion and decoration between US military commanders in Vietnam for Vietcong “body counts.” When…

(By AFP) Australia endures hottest year on record (via AFP) Australia experienced its hottest year on record in 2013, the Bureau of Meteorology said Friday, enduring the longest heatwave ever recorded Down…

(by AFP) Musharraf suffers 'heart problem' on way to treason hearing (via AFP) Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was rushed to hospital Thursday after suffering a "heart problem" on his way…

(By Ruthie Blum) On December 25, Ali Jarbawi published his blockbuster Op-Ed "The Coming Intifada" with The New York Times. ”We Palestinians are living through the worst situation in years,” he wrote.…

(By Juan Cole) When the venerable al-Ahram newspaper, then under the control of the government of Hosni Mubarak, published the allegation during the 2011 revolution that the crowds were just coming down…

(By Alexander Christie-Miller) The Gulen movement: a self-exiled imam challenges Turkey's Erdogan (via The Christian Science Monitor) The man some see as the architect of a political storm threatening to topple Turkey’s…